And while I'm at it, I'll say what hasn't actually been said: A serious runner, a true competitor, is somebody who doesn't cheat.
I've run hundreds of races in my life and it's never even occurred to me to cheat. I work too hard, for what often turns out to be the skimpiest of rewards--a few seconds off a PR--to want to violate the integrity of the bottom line. If I cheated, I'd be cheating myself.
I BQ'd by one second back in 2006. I did so with a frantic, all-out sprint when I entered the Memphis Redbirds stadium. (St. Jude.) As I fell across the finish line, the clock said 3:31:00 and I thought I'd missed it. Tears sprang into my eyes. Later, upstairs, the results were posted. My time was 3:30:59. One second! I earned that.
You need to earn it. You don't get to cheat your way into it.